[very common; orig. from British public-school and military slang
variant of ‘new boy’] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced in
the newsgrouptalk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the
combination “clueless newbie” is especially common). Criteria
for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie
in one newsgroup while remaining a respected regular in another. The label
newbie is sometimes applied as a
serious insult to a person who has been around Usenet for a long time but
who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. See
B1FF; see also gnubie.
Compare chainik,
luser.